


Stop the Ride! I Want to Get Off

by smiles2go



Category: NCIS, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: DiNozzo whump, Gen, Hostage Situations, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 01:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14438424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smiles2go/pseuds/smiles2go
Summary: Taken hostage by the Trust, Anthony DiNozzo is used to locate Ancient Tech in the Pegasus Galaxy until Atlantis personnel find out.





	Stop the Ride! I Want to Get Off

**Author's Note:**

> There are bits of canon to be found, pushed and hammered into new slots. Timelines are twisted up to make this work. Some people might be OOC. Some character bashing of NCIS.
> 
> No relation to book of same name
> 
> I’d like to thank my Beta, the lovely Brumeier. Any mistakes you find were made because I changed something after she looked at it. Read her stuff if you get a chance, she’s in a class by herself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“ _Mr. Kort, this is Dr. Maverly. We spoke last month on … mutually beneficial Trust issues_.”  It was Darth Vader on the phone again.  Kort rolled his eyes at the over-the-top voice disguising software as if he couldn’t negate it with a few clicks on his own phone.

 “Yeah.”  Phone wedged under his chin, Kort grabbed a long-neck from the fridge and screwed the top off, letting it drop into the sink.

 "A _s per prior discussions,_ _we have completed our research through the DC area hospitals and have found two subjects who have markers in their blood that are often identified with the gene we require. We need your, shall we say, special services to acquire the subject. It’s time for your part of the bargain_.”

 “Yeah.”  He took a long sip then rubbed the sweating bottle across his forehead.  He was so bloody tired.

 “ _The first subject is David Rossi. BAU in FBI. However, he is older so we’d prefer the second option if possible_.”

 “Yeah.”  Kort was getting bored, but he wasn’t about to have his voice recorded in an incriminating conversation.

 “ _Anthony DiNozzo, Jr. Works at NCIS_.”

 Kort snickered and hoped they didn’t catch that.  “Yeah ok.” 

 “ _As per our agreement, $100,000 dollars will be deposited_ –“

 “$200,000 in diamonds. We’ll make the trade in person.”

 “ _But you_ –“

 “Price went up.”

 “ _Now see here! This is for the good of Earth! You_ \--”

 “$300,000.”  Kort smirked at the heavy breathing.  “I’m sure you can see where this is going.”

 “ _Fine_.”  Kort could hear the anger even though the voice was disguised.  “ _Timeframe_?”

 “Twenty-four hours. I know right where to find your package.  Two a.m. Track my phone.”

 “ _Very well_.”  The phone cut off.

 Trent laughed and tossed his phone on the coffee table. “Bloody hell, I woulda given you DiNozzo for nothing. Been my greatest pleasure.”  Collapsing back on the couch, he finished the beer and settled in for a quick nap.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The sliver of moon barely lit the open top level of the car park so it was easy to stay in the shadows.  Kort leaned against the driver’s door patiently, silently going over his meticulous escape route one more time.  He knew better than anyone that these kind of people cleaned up after themselves and he needed to be gone before he was dead. First off the roof, then out of the city and to a bolt-hole he’d kept in reserve in Bolivia. That would do for a year or so. 

The black SUV fairly purred with power.  Kort was tempted to toss his plan and take the car. No, it was probably outfitted with a tracker. Pity, he could’ve gotten a bundle for it. 

“You have the subject?”  Three men got out. They didn’t cover their faces and Kort nodded. They didn’t care about witnesses, they didn’t plan to leave any.  With an internal grunt, he recognized one of the men and kept his face passive.  The driver stayed on the other side of their car where Kort couldn’t see his hands.  He was the designated shooter then.

“You have the diamonds?”  Kort straightened slowly, pressing the button on the small device in his pocket. 

In answer the speaker gestured to the second man, who stepped toward Kort, holding out a small velvet bag.  Kort took two steps into the meager moonlight and pulled a jewelers loupe from his pocket.  Keeping an eye on all of them at once and checking the diamonds wasn’t easy, but he managed enough to see they were real. 

“Good doing business with you gents.”  He tossed the car keys to the speaker.  “Package is in the trunk. Don’t dawdle, car bomb is set to go off in five minutes.”    Stuffing the velvet bag in a deep pocket, he pulled his gun and shot the driver who was aiming some weird looking space gun at him.  Even though the man was protected by the car, he’d unfortunately left his head sticking up. Rookie mistake. 

The man fell with a new hole dead center in his forehead.  Kort’s gun swiveled back to the other two as he started walking backwards.  “I wasn’t kidding about the car bomb. If you want the package, you better hustle.” 

Looking at each other and back at Kort, they wasted enough time for Kort to reach the far side of the garage and disappear over the side.  He’d placed a fire ladder there earlier in the day. Two floors down another car waited.  He barely made it to street level before he heard the explosion.  Pressing on the gas pedal he grinned.  

“It was a nice car DiNozzo, but you won’t be needing it where you’re going.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Son of a BITCH!”  Sergeant Stackhouse shouted, tripping over a big, lumpy rock. One step through the doorway and then one to the right. Standard procedure.  It was his job to go in first to clear the darkened facility before they let Dr. McKay loose to hunt for the Ancient tech.  Hopefully they’d gotten there first this time. 

He’d let go of his P90 instinctively to stop himself from kissing the stone. The P90 went skittering across the floor with the light from Colonel Sheppard’s P90 following it.  Holy Hell he was in deep shit now. The Colonel carefully stepped over him. 

“Problem Sergeant?”  The Colonel asked, softly drawing the words out, light on his P90 tracking around the room. There were no other doors visible. He could hear Dr. McKay shouting in the background demanding to know what was going on.  “Are you hurt?” 

He tried to get to his feet, but his knee had come down on that stupid rock, so he ended up sitting and clutching it.  Hopefully it was only bruised, but it sure felt twisted. There should be one of those hot/cold pack things in his TAC vest.  He started emptying his pockets. 

“Sorry, Sir. No, Sir. My fault. Some… some _person_ put a big rock right where I stepped. It’s too big for someone not to have dragged it in here.” 

“Booby trap?”  The Colonel was still clearing the room, but glanced back over his shoulder at him. He was supposed to be the Colonel’s backup, but no, he was sitting on his ass with a busted knee.  Some backup. 

“I don’t think so, Sir. Just a stupid rock.”  He’d gotten the cold pack around his knee and sighed in relief. If it was swollen when they got back to Atlantis, Dr. Beckett would bench him for sure.  Shoving stuff back in his vest his hand closed around something unfamiliar and he wrinkled his nose at the familiar smell.  “What the…”  Patting pockets, he finally found his flashlight and shone it on the item. 

Sheppard had given McKay the all-clear and was busy dragging in the generator to run the lights so the scientist could see if they’d beaten the Genii to the Ancient facility or not. 

He frowned, unable to believe his eyes.  That wasn’t his. It wasn’t even allowed on Atlantis, so how did it get there?   He eyed the rock he’d dislodged.  No. Couldn’t be. 

“Sir? Colonel, I think you need to see this.”  Still clutching the offending item, he managed to get to his feet, balancing on his good leg.   

“Find something, Sergeant?”  The Colonel ambled over, gave him back his P90, and frowned at the way Stackhouse was standing.  He flushed, but held out the item. 

“Sir, I… I don’t understand.”  He frowned.  Where could it have come from?  It wasn’t … it was NOT possible.   “Look at this, Sir.”  He thrust the offending item in the Colonel’s face. 

The Colonel blinked at the item before pointing his own flashlight at it. He frowned at it and then at Stackhouse. 

“Is this a joke?” The Colonel’s voice was hitting the edge of angry.  “Cause it’s not very funny.” 

“No Sir.”  He shook his head.  “It must have been under that damn rock I fell over.”  He finally looked up at the Colonel’s frozen face.  “Honest, Sir.  I wouldn’t lie, not about something like this.” 

“McKay!” The Colonel half-turned and shone the light at the back of Rodney’s head.  “Get over here and look at this.” 

“Busy!”  Dr. McKay muttered around the small flashlight clenched between his teeth without looking up from the machine he was elbows deep in. The big flood lights were on stands, but couldn’t be angled to shine down where they’d be most needed.  “Dammit to hell!”  Dr. McKay pulled his hands back and leaned back on his heels. “Well Colonel, they’ve beaten us again. Got every damn crystal.”  He slammed a hand against the machine and spit out the flashlight.  “Fucking Genii. What do they want with Ancient tech?  They can’t use it.” 

“Forget that and come here.  You need to see this.”  The Colonel took the item and started across the room to meet Dr. McKay. 

“What! What’s so damn important?”  Dr. McKay stumbled to his feet and looked at the Colonel suddenly excited. “Did they drop something on the way out?” 

“Just get over here,” The Colonel said with exaggerated patience. “Look at this.” 

“All right. No need to take that tone.”  He held out his hand imperiously, waving it a bit.  “Well, let me see.”  Jerking the item away from the Colonel who just huffed at him, Dr. McKay stared at it in silence for five seconds. 

“Ha fucking ha! What the fuck is wrong with you?” He threw the item on the floor, crooked mouth twisting angrily. He stomped around the Colonel and headed for the door.  “I’ll probably go into shock from just touching the box.”  He swiveled around and stomped back toward the Colonel.  “Who the hell authorized a giant box of Lemonheads on this mission?  I could have….”  Shaking his head he turned again and headed for the door. 

“Sergeant Stackhouse found it under a rock by the door.”  The Colonel bent over and picked the box up.  “None of us brought it here.” 

“That’s ridiculous!”  Dr. McKay groused, giving Stackhouse a glare as he walked out the door into the bright sunshine.  “I can’t believe you thought that’d be funny.” 

“You see me laughing?”  The Colonel jogged across the room and out the door to catch up with Dr. McKay.  “My Marines don’t lie.  It was under the rock when we got here.” 

Dr. McKay stopped and opened his mouth, then shut it.  He opened it again and growled, “Even you, Colonel Flyboy, must understand that a box of candy from Earth _cannot_ have flown to this miserable planet and crawled under a rock. And I assure you, no one from Atlantis has been here before.”   

“Could someone have traded it?  Maybe it somehow ended up with the Genii,” Sergeant Stackhouse suggested tentatively from where he leaned against the doorway.  “The guys do that sometimes… trade candy for stuff.”  He trailed off when they both turned heavy glares at him. 

“Give me that.”  Dr. McKay snatched the empty box out of The Colonel’s hand and started going through his TAC vest until he found a plastic bag.  “I’m gonna fingerprint this and then I’m gonna make that … that… _Marine_ wish he’d never been born!”  Dr. McKay was nearly spitting as he stomped toward the jumper.  “Somebody get the lights and generator packed up! This was a total waste of my time.”  Dr. McKay left a trail of used hand wipes all the way to the jumper. 

The Colonel waited until Dr. McKay was out of range before he chuckled.  “Better hope your fingerprints aren’t the only ones on there, Sergeant.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

John waited impatiently for McKay to show up. He figured the fingerprint results had come in. He pitied the poor Marine they belonged to and decided it would be better to rotate him back to Earth than let McKay torture him to death. He chanced a quick glance at Elizabeth. Yep, still annoyed. 

“Elizabeth, John, Teyla, Ronon. “ Rodney breezed in, leaving his laptop in front of an empty chair before heading for the coffee machine.  “Mmmmm. Muffins.  Good idea.”  He grabbed two and headed back to his seat.  “Why are you here, Carson?  I didn’t invite you. This has nothing to –“ 

“I invited him,” Elizabeth interrupted.  “I assume you’ve concluded your investigation into the mysterious box of candy.”  

“Yes, of course I’ve finished. Why else would I call a meeting?”  Rodney took a sip of coffee and a bite of muffin before opening his laptop.  “I assume you’ve all brought your tablets.”  He gave a swift glance around, knowing Teyla wouldn’t use hers, instead relying on verbal cues and facial expressions to get to the truth.  Ronon was holding up the wall and couldn’t be bothered. Neither wanted to advertise their lack of English reading skills. 

Rubbing his hands together, he pulled up the relevant files.  “Ok. Another set of fingerprints did come up when I tested the box. They belong to an American NCIS agent, Anthony DiNozzo, Jr.”  

“No!”  John grabbed up the tablet and began swiping furiously.  “Not Tony!  He’s not with the Genii or any other –“ 

“It would have to be Trust or NID to get here from Earth, Colonel.  We can rule out the Genii,” Rodney mumbled through a mouthful of muffin.  “So, you know this guy DiNozzo? How’s that?” 

“Yes, John. I think we’d all like to hear how you know Agent DiNozzo.”  Elizabeth looked at him over the top of her tablet. 

John stared at the photograph on his tablet. It was amazing how easily the years slipped away.  How had he forgotten so completely? Why had he pushed all those memories down deep in a dark hole in his mind?  Why hadn’t he made any effort to keep in touch with his best friend after he got out of there? 

“We attended RIMA together,” he said after a few moments. “We had dead mothers and bastard fathers in common. He was nine and I was eleven. We were inseparable, but lost contact when I joined the Air Force and then he got a full ride to Ohio State.”  He could feel their curious eyes on him. 

“What is RIMA?” Teyla asked, looking around the table. 

“A military school where you dump unwanted kids to _turn them into real men_.”  John made quote marks with his fingers. “He was like my little brother.” John grunted.  “Better than my real little brother any day.” 

“Rhode Island Military School.”  Elizabeth laid down the tablet and picked up her coffee.  “Rodney, you said you had more information from General O’Neill.  Please continue.” 

“It’ll be easier if I just read it.”  Rodney cleared his throat and finished his coffee.  “Ok then. Like the Colonel stated, DiNozzo went to Ohio State on an athletic scholarship.  By senior year he was being courted by the majors.  DiNozzo was supposed to be the next big thing, but he was injured in a game.  Knee was completely wiped out.  Ended any pro career. 

“After graduating with a double major in Phys Ed and Psychology, he was accepted at the Police Academy in Peoria, Illinois where he stayed as a cop for a couple years. Then Philadelphia and a couple years after that, Baltimore. 

“It was during a case in Baltimore that NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, former Marine Gunnery Sergeant, lured DiNozzo to Washington, DC to be his partner on the premier NCIS team.   At all three police stations his meteoric rise is well documented by a stack of commendations and successful undercover operations.  You can read more about that in his full file.  Agh.  I need more coffee.” 

Rodney poured himself another cup of coffee and drank half of it before refilling it again and grabbing another muffin.  

John noticed McKay giving him a calculating smirk.  Uh Oh. That never boded well for anyone. 

“Ok. Continuing.  DiNozzo had two Directors while at NCIS. Tom Morrow, who hired him and Jenny Shepard, who died in suspicious circumstances a few months after DiNozzo disappeared. The current Director, Leon Vance, has ignored the whole DiNozzo debacle. Tom Morrow is now Director of Homeland.  He and an FBI Agent, Tobias Fornell are the only two searching for DiNozzo. 

“Once Shepard is in the picture, DiNozzo’s file starts reading like a TV drama. I’ll go over the major points of interest. Moving forward a couple years, Gibbs was injured in an explosion and lost fifteen years worth of memories. Gibbs turned down treatment and took off to Mexico to wait out his medical leave.  He’s currently living in the bottom of a bottle, doesn’t remember much about DiNozzo, and refused to be interviewed. 

“DiNozzo was 2IC, so he took over as Team Lead but his team mutinied and he pretty much did everything by himself. Shepard took this opportunity to rope him into a secret unsanctioned undercover op to get revenge on a French gunrunner she believed killed her father. DiNozzo had no backup and wasn’t allowed to tell anyone while still expected to solve crimes. 

“It’s during this op that DiNozzo disappeared and Shepard’s secret op wasn’t so secret anymore.  Apparently, the CIA were years deep in their own op with the gunrunner and didn’t appreciate a piddly little agency like NCIS sticking their fingers in it. The CIA won’t confirm, but everyone knows Agent Trent Kort was in charge of the Benoit affair, so, Kort … who let me tell you is the dirtiest backstabber you could ever meet, is bound to be behind whatever happened to DiNozzo. It’s too convenient. 

“Police found DiNozzo’s burnt-out car on top of a parking garage complete with a body.  After the autopsy proved the body wasn’t DiNozzo, Shepard put out that DiNozzo couldn’t take the pressure and tried to fake his own death.”  Rodney rolled his eyes.  “I don’t even know the guy and I can see he’s smarter than that if disappearing was his endgame.  No, I’ll put my money on Kort having something to do with the car bombing and your missing Agent.” 

“I’ve been looking over his file while you were speaking, Rodney. I’ll admit I’m not very impressed. I only see a couple commendations and no undercover work.”  Elizabeth tapped a finger on the table.  “Are we sure he isn’t Trust or NID himself? This file has a fake feel about it.” 

“He’s not!”  John surged to his feet, knocking his chair back.  “Tony couldn’t… Tony’s about the most honest, moral person in the world.” John wanted to shake the truth into Elizabeth, but slowly sat down under her steely glare. 

“You yourself said you haven’t seen him since you joined the Air Force. That’s what, nearly twenty years? You don’t know what went on in his life. He could have changed.”  Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him.  

“Well O’Neill seems to have been won over by Morrow’s enthusiasm for DiNozzo.  Morrow is willing to take him on at Homeland if we find him. Said he wished he’d taken DiNozzo with him when he left NCIS. O’Neill figures if the Trust took him, he has a high ATA level which makes him good for Atlantis.” 

“The lad survived the plague!” Caron looked up in awe.  “Pneumonic, not bubonic, but still.” He shook his head.  “He couldn’t have had more than a fifteen percent chance of recovery.” 

“What?” Elizabeth and John asked at once. “Are you kidding?” 

John closed his eyes and let his head fall forward. It was his fault. He knew, he fucking _knew,_ Senior couldn’t be trusted to look after Tony and he still never tried to contact him. He was the oldest, it had been his job to take care of Tony. 

“Bioterrorism. Envelope sent to NCIS offices and he opened it.”  Rodney shrugged.  “He survived.” 

“His lungs will be pretty scarred.”  Carson shook his head, concentrating on the medical aspects in the file. 

“Where are you getting this? None of that is in his file.”  Elizabeth frowned.  

“You’re not looking at the right file.” Rodney’s fingers raced over his laptop.  “You’re looking at the public file, it’s been redacted heavily to keep his undercover operations and personas safe. Open the official file.  It’s marked Eyes Only.  Took me a while to find it, someone buried it pretty deep. 

“Undercover agents keep a very low profile and not everyone has clearance to read their real file.  He’s done some amazing things for as young as he is. He’s not a genius or anything, but his IQ is fairly high.  He’s one of the youngest cops ever to get a gold shield.  Single-handedly brought down some major crime family in Philly.” 

“I do not understand how this could happen.”  Teyla folded her hands on the table. “How… why would your people let a good man disappear so easily and then just forget him?” 

“Hah,” Rodney grabbed the last muffin and shoved it in his mouth. “That’s good old American government bureaucracy at work.” 

“No good deed,” Elizabeth murmured.  

“I have not heard that idiom before.”  Teyla tilted her head at Elizabeth. “What does it mean?” 

“No good deed goes unpunished.” John answered.  “Means when someone does something good, the universe will cause something bad to happen to them to balance out.” 

“I… We have to find him.”  John rubbed his face. “He’s been through hell and that’s before he got to Pegasus.”  He’d been reading the Eyes Only file and couldn’t believe half of it.  “There was a terrorist targeting their team, ended up killing one of the women.  That … Director Shepard brought in the terrorist’s half-sister, a Mossad Officer, and put her on their team in her place.  This Ziva David was the terrorist’s handler, she’s the one that did all the profiling of Gibbs’ team. The very reason the woman was killed.”  John dropped the tablet on the table. “I don’t even…”  His coffee was cold but he emptied the cup. 

“What?” Elizabeth choked on her coffee. “How could that happen?”    

“I do not understand half of what you have said, but that sounds very wrong to me.”  Teyla patted Elizabeth on the back. 

“Turns out their father is Eli David, head of Mossad. He ordered Ziva to kill her half-brother in a way that gave her an ‘in’ at NCIS.” Rodney shrugged. “The team was ordered to accept her and teach her how to investigate crimes. I told you there were unbelievable melodramatic shenanigans going on.” 

“Investigate crimes?”  Teyla asked.  “Is that what DiNozzo does?” 

“NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Services.  They investigate crimes both to and by Navy and Marine personnel.”  John got up slowly and went for more coffee. “Agent Afloat.  He could do that.” 

“What’s that?” Elizabeth looked up from her tablet.  “Agent Afloat?” 

“An NCIS Agent stationed on a ship is called the Agent Afloat. There’s also AFOSI.  Air Force Office of Special Investigations. We could maybe combine something. Cobble together a job description, since we have both Marines and Air Force personnel here.” 

“I still want to know how it’s legal to have a foreign spy investigating American crimes.”  Elizabeth tapped her finger on the table.  “Any prosecutor worth his salt would have the case dismissed. Any evidence she touched would be poisoned.” 

“O’Neill and Morrow have launched an investigation into that and a few other things have come to light,” Rodney told her.  “She had a suspect in custody and while alone in the elevator together, he conveniently died. Their ME ruled it natural causes.”  Rodney shook his head.  “DiNozzo filed complaint after complaint but they were all dismissed. 

“DiNozzo has a Masters in Criminal Justice and a BA in Criminal Psychology. Both achieved while he was working full-time,” Rodney smirked at Elizabeth.  “I think Atlantis could use a good investigator. Figure out who keeps stealing my coffee.”  Rodney licked his finger and started picking up muffin crumbs.

“So O’Neill is fairly sure the Trust brought him here?” Elizabeth sighed.  “We have enough to do dealing with Wraith and Genii. We don’t need the Trust on top of it. John you and Rodney figure out how to find Agent DiNozzo. We can’t do much else until we locate him.” 

“Awesome,” John grinned.  “And then we keep him.” 

“Or we could actually ask him what he wants to do.”  Elizabeth frowned at Rodney who was focused on muffin crumbs. “Once we actually find him, that is.” 

“Yeah,” Rodney looked away from his laptop to glare at the empty coffee cup before getting up again.  “It’s like they know where we’re….”  He turned to exchange glances with John. 

“They know where and when we’re headed and get there first.”  John said slowly. “People, I think we have a mole.” 

“John! Are you accusing one of us?”  Elizabeth half stood up.  “That’s…That’s…” 

Ronon straightened his stance, one hand on the blaster. 

“What? No.”  John rubbed the back of his neck.  “Someone’s transmitting our plans somehow.  Some of these trips were very short notice. McKay --” 

Rodney had refilled his cup and was making his way around the table to his seat.  “Yes, yes, Colonel. I’ll start setting up the sensors to search for illegal broadcasts near the dates we gated to the sites in question.”  He took a long sip of coffee.  “Let me get Zelenka right on that.” 

“John!  You _are_ implicating one of us.”  Elizabeth frowned him.  “That’s not possible.” 

“Elizabeth,” John rolled his eyes.  “I trust everyone in this room.  But there are too many new people on Atlantis for me to trust each and every one of them.” 

“But John,” Elizabeth collapsed back in her chair. “Trust –“ 

“Dr. Weir, Elizabeth,” Teyla leaned toward her.  “Someone … _someone_ is informing this group whether it is Trust or not.  _Someone_ is giving them information about our activities. Only someone in the city would be able to get that information so quickly.” 

Elizabeth shook her head but didn’t protest any further. 

“Ok people.”  John grabbed his tablet.  “Let’s build us a mole trap.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It didn’t take long to set a trap for the mole. Instead of trying to keep the ‘next’ gate address with Ancient tech a secret, they made sure everyone was talking about it, but due to prior commitments, they weren’t able to get there for a few days.  John had already sent a squad of Marines in to wait and watch for the Trust to show up, then contact Atlantis.  

John’s team and several Marines approached the Trust base camp just after dusk, taking out the sentries and capturing one guy wandering around in the dark.  John took point with Ronon flanking from the left while Teyla was on the right.  Rodney stayed behind John and watched the rear. 

They needed to take at least some of the Trust operatives alive for interrogation. They needed answers to too many questions.  There had to be another base, a place where the Trust kept their supplies and their ship.  They had to find out how many of them were in Pegasus. O’Neill wasn’t the only one having a cow. 

The camp was small, but situated in the middle of a ring of large rocks.  It took a while before the gunfire ceased and John waved them forward.  

“Sniper in the trees!” a hoarse voice shouted.  “Two o’clock.”  

Having been revealed, the sniper took several shots at them and then at the speaker on the ground.  It didn’t take Ronon long to pinpoint the sniper and hit him with a blaster shot, and when the sniper thumped heavily to the ground a man erupted from the rocks running straight at them.  Ronon took aim, but he could see the man had no weapon and held his fire. 

“Marines! Marines! Thank God for Marines!”  the tattered man croaked roughly. He ran straight to Sergeant Stackhouse and grabbed him in a bear hug, P90 and all.  “Gibbs send --?”  

“Tony? What the hell did they do to you?” Sheppard started to run towards him.  “Tony! Are you all right?” The only words bouncing around in his head were, _oh God, why? Why Tony_? 

A loud, frantic beeping started in the camp and with a sharp whoomp, two thin wires shot out over the rocks heading straight for DiNozzo. He tensed and ducked his head down. In less than three seconds the metal tips had buried themselves through his ripped and torn shirt and in his back with a sizzle of electricity.  

DiNozzo convulsed with a strangled scream and Stackhouse went to his knees holding the now unconscious man.  The metal points dropped to the ground and the wires slowly started retracting back to the rocks. Stackhouse made a shocked noise; the man weighed very little for his size. 

“Must be some kind of taser keyed to him or something he’s wearing. Keep him from getting very far if he escaped.”  Rodney pushed the shredded shirt aside and peered at the man’s back.  “Looks like he’s been hit with it a few times.” 

“Sir?”  Sergeant Stackhouse tried to get a better grip on the man and get to his feet at the same time. 

“Lay him down gently. Looks like he’s been through hell,” John ordered, wanting to grab Tony up and run for the jumper.  “Teyla can you look him over while we check out the camp and secure the prisoners? McKay start gathering your goodies for transport. 

“Sergeant, go get our jumper and park it as close as you can.  Contact Atlantis and ask for backup. We have wounded and prisoners. I don’t want to drag them a mile or so in the dark. Ronon, when you get a chance, take a couple guys and collect the ones we left in the woods.  Wouldn’t want to leave anyone behind.”      

John stared down at Tony and forced his anger away.  He couldn’t kill them, they needed intel too much. He wanted to beat them to death with his bare hands. How dare they treat Tony like that? They didn’t deserve to live. 

“We’ll send a team back in daylight with body bags and to collect anything we missed.” Or anyone.  Maybe someone would come checking on them. Hopefully. 

Teyla knelt beside the unconscious man and ran the narrow light from her flashlight over him.  John crouched down to get a closer look. Tony’s clothes were nothing more than rags. There was something metal around his neck.  His feet were bare and covered in cuts and scrapes. His ankles and wrists bore deep marks from rope or shackles.   John clenched his fists. They wouldn’t get away with it. He’d find every bastard that had touched Tony and … return the favor. 

He helped Teyla carefully roll him over and they both gasped at how bruised his face looked. Tony was shivering slightly.  John closed his eyes in denial. He couldn’t deal with this. 

“John, I cannot remove this collar. It does not have a lock, the metal seems melted together. There are also many burns and scars on his back, perhaps from the … tazzer, I believe Rodney called it?” 

“Taser.”  John rubbed his face. 

“John, this man has been severely beaten many times. He is too thin. Look here at the inside of his arm.” She pushed the ripped sleeve aside to see better.  “It looks like something has poked many small holes into his skin. We need to get him to Carson. I have nothing here that can help him.” 

“I don’t see any bleeding.” It was something; not much but something. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, one eye ringed in yellow and black. His hair was long and shaggy and just as dirty as the rest of him.  The needle marks were another worry he couldn’t dwell on now. 

“They did not let him bathe often.”  Fishing around in her TAC vest, she pulled out the emergency blanket and wrapped it around him.  “What did those wires do to him? Should he be awake by now?” 

“McKay, pack that Taser thing. Beckett will probably want a look at it.”  John stood and went through the rocks to glare at the prisoners. When he regained control of himself, he made them stumble out in the open before forcing them to sit.  One of the younger ones kept taking huge sobbing breaths while the other two grumbled under their breath, glaring at John.  

“You won’t get away with this!” the largest thug threatened. “You don’t know who you’re messing with!” Ronon kicked him in the back of the head as he dragged an unconscious prisoner to the end of the row.  Sobbing guy ramped up the volume. 

“Shut that guy up before I give him something to cry about.”  John rubbed his face and crouched beside Tony.   “I’m so sorry kid. I … I know it’s all my fault, but we’ll get you back to Atlantis soon and get you fixed up right,”  he whispered, not caring that Teyla probably heard.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Hunched in a chair beside Tony’s bed, John was playing Tetris when he heard a slight noise.  He glanced up to find familiar green eyes watching him warily.  “Hey, Junior.”  He straightened up and grinned. “It’s ok, kid. You’re safe now.” 

“Sheppard? John?”  He broke off into a coughing fit. “No wonder I couldn’t find you.”  When he started coughing again, John jumped up to get him some water.  “Where are we? What’s this place?”  His voice was so rough and slurred John barely understood him. 

Raising the bed slightly John held the cup while Tony gulped down water.  “Hey, slow down. You’ll make yourself sick. We got plenty more where that came from.”  

“Thanks.” It came out more breath than sound.  “Looked for you, really looked.” 

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”  John stared at the half empty cup of water in his hands, then set it on the little cupboard.  “I --”   But Tony had gone back to sleep and everything he wanted to say, _had_ to say, would have to wait.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

He was still sitting at Tony’s bed hours later when Teyla and Ronon came to find him. 

“He gonna be ok?”  Ronon jerked his chin at the man in the bed.  “Still looks pretty bad.” 

“Carson said it would take some time, but yeah.”  John reached over and smoothed the blanket down before nodding at his team. 

“It is time to eat, Colonel. You missed the noon meal and they are serving almost-meatloaf tonight.” Teyla looked over the sleeping man approvingly. “He looks much better. Carson’s medicine is working.” 

“Yeah.”  John rubbed the back of his neck.  “I’ll get something later.  I can’t…he should wake up soon.”  

“I’m glad we were able to save your friend.”  Teyla smiled at him.  “And now we will catch the mole.” 

“Yeah.”  John smiled half-heartedly.  “It’s funny. I haven’t seen him in twenty years and it seems like just yesterday we ….”  John trailed off, watching Tony’s face. 

“We will bring you a tray later.” She leaned down to touch their foreheads.  “Friends made in childhood tend to linger in the heart the longest.” 

John nodded and didn’t look away until Rodney ambled in.  

“So.”  Rodney bounced on his toes and carefully examined Tony’s face. “This is the guy I have to thank for bringing Lemonheads to Pegasus.”

 

 

 

fin

 

 

 


End file.
